AVIXA Recognized AV Technologist Practice Test

The correct answer, lossless audio compression, refers to a method that retains all the original audio data after the compression process. This type of compression reduces file size without sacrificing the quality of the sound, allowing for exact restoration of the original audio when it is decompressed. Formats like FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) or ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) exemplify lossless compression.

In contrast, lossy compression formats reduce file sizes by permanently eliminating certain audio information deemed less critical for human perception, which means that once the audio is compressed, the original data cannot be fully recovered. While adaptive and variable rate refer to techniques used to optimize data transmission by changing the bitrate dynamically based on audio complexity and other parameters, they do not specifically ensure the retrieval of original audio data post-compression.